NNA Says FCC Issues "Common Sense" Fax Rules

National Newspaper Association President Jerry Reppert called the rules governing commercial faxes issued by The Federal Communications Commission last week "common sense rules."

The FCC's rules on how businesses could use the facsimile machine to communicate with customers were released April 6 [as reported in DM New print edition, April 7] following comments and guidance from the NNA and other organizations.

Under the rules, which take effect in July, businesses can continue sending fax advertisements to people with whom they have an established business relationship, with some limitations. The EBR has no time limit or specific definition, a financial transaction clearly establishes an EBR, and an inquiry about a product or service also establishes one.

The FCC adopted rules to implement the provisions of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005.

Mr. Reppert, publisher of the Gazette-Democrat, Anna, IL, said the new rules gave newspapers and other businesses most of the latitude they had requested.

NNA had vigorously opposed a 2003 FCC rule requiring written consent from recipients.

"We met twice with the Commission, testified before Congress twice and asked NNA's Congressional Action Team to use its educational powers to help regulators understand that sending a fax to a customer is not a violation of privacy, nor an interference with business," said Mr. Reppert. "Rather, we and our customers use the fax machine as a necessary communications tool."

The NNA represents owners, publishers, and editors from more than 2,500 community newspapers throughout the nation.

Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters

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